Frostbitten Wayfarer

Cass came out of her room a short wait later, as Zoe was just finishing up her coffee. The girl was young, no older than five or six at the latest. She carried with her a canvas almost as tall as her, the bottom of it scraping along the wooden floor with a bright smile on her face. Excitement and cheer radiated from her as she walked into the living room.

“Daddy, Daddy! I painted you!" She said as she walked in. Her cheerful demeanour was replaced with a sickening anxiety as she noticed Zoe sitting on the couch and hid behind the corner.

“It’s okay, sweetie. This is a nice young lady who’s going to help us go out for a walk in the forest just like you wanted.” Igor smiled at Cass and then turned to Zoe. “I’m sorry, I’ve just realized I never got your name?”

“Oh, sorry. I’m Zoe.” Zoe said.

“This is Zoe, come say hi, dear.” Igor said.

Cass crept around the corner, dragging the canvas with her up to Igor. “I painted you, Daddy!” She said, giving a nervous side glance to Zoe.

Igor took the painting and looked at it, his face lighting up with a cheerful smile and a deep pride flooding Zoe’s empathy. “It’s beautiful, Cass. Great job.” He patted her on the head and spun the canvas around so Zoe could see.

Zoe smiled as she looked at it. Igor was biased in his praise, but even Zoe had to admit it was well made. It captured Igor’s thin, almost wispy black hair and his dark, wrinkled skin. “It’s really great.” She said, and identified the young girl. An orange level seven.

Igor put the canvas down on one of the nearby piles and knelt down next to Cass. “You ready to head out?”

“Yeah!” Cass shouted.

“You sure? Got everything you need?” Igor tilted his head as he smiled.

“Mhm!” Cass answered.

Igor shook his head. “Go get your coat.”

“But I don’t like my coat. Do I have to?" Cass whined.

“Yup. It’s cold outside, so you need to wear your coat.” Igor said.

“Okay.” Cass said and ran off back down the hallway.

“I could keep her warm too, if you’d like. It’s not all that cold out today, either.” Zoe said to Igor when Cass was out of earshot.

Igor shook his head. "Thanks, but it’s not really about the cold. I just want her to be in the habit of making sure she’s prepared for whatever she’s doing, you know? You won’t always have somebody to keep you warm.“

Zoe nodded. “You won’t always have somebody to escort you, either, you know?”

Igor laughed. “Yeah. Well sometimes it’s okay to be a little spoiled.”

Cass came running back in a moment later, in a big puffy red jacket that reached down to her knees. “Okay! I’m ready now!”

“Good job, Cass.” Igor said and turned to Zoe. "You ready to go?"

“Yup, whenever’s fine by me.” Zoe said.

“Great, lets get going then.” Igor grabbed Cass’ hand and walked out the front door. Zoe followed along behind, and he locked the door when they were all outside.

Cass hopped and skipped along the road, a bundle of excitement to Zoe’s empathy. A stark contrast to the mild fears that were wafting off Igor as he smiled and laughed next to her. She supposed it must be quite terrifying, to put all of your trust into somebody you’ve never met like this. To put your daughter’s life at risk — however slight that risk might truly be, at the whims of a stranger you’ve only known for twenty minutes.

They made it to the front gate and out into the forests beyond. Igor’s anxiety raced while Cass wanted to run around to every tree and smell every flower. Zoe wondered if there was anything she could do to help with Igor’s anxiety, but every idea seemed so arrogant.

She could offer to put on a show, an exciting display of her skills for Cass’ enjoyment and maybe Igor would feel more comfortable once she saw what Zoe was capable of. But showing off just for the sake of showing how great she was didn’t sit right with Zoe.

Zoe shrugged. Igor could be a bundle of anxiety if he wanted, that wasn’t Zoe’s problem. She’d keep them safe, whether he was confident in her or not.

Cass pointed at a purple fruit hanging a dozen feet off the ground from a tree’s branch. “What’s that?"

Igor looked at it. “I’m not sure. Some kind of fruit.”

“Can we eat it?" Cass asked.

Igor shook his head. “No, it might be poisonous.”

“I can try eating it and let you know first, if you want.” Zoe offered.

“You’d just possibly poison yourself so we can try some fruit?” Igor asked.

Zoe shrugged. “Yeah, why not? If it’s poisonous enough to be dangerous to me there’s no way Darpi would let them grow out here.”

“Okay, if you’re confident. But I’m not responsible if something happens to you.” Igor said.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I like trying new fruits anyway.” Zoe said and detached the fruit from the branch with her Wood skill, caught it in a bowl of Earth and sliced into it with a jet of Water. The glossy purple skin ruptured as the water sliced into it, revealing a bright orange interior.

Zoe grabbed a piece of the orange fruit and popped it in her mouth. It tasted almost like a mango, but much sweeter. Almost sickeningly so, but the system didn’t give her any message for poison so she floated the mango fruit over to Igor.

“Didn’t give me a message for poison. You can try it if you want. It’s pretty good.” Zoe said.

Igor looked at the fruit and tasted it. “Oh! This is prine. I’ve never seen it with purple skin though, that’s odd.” He looked at Cass. “You want some?”

“Yeah!” Cass answered. Zoe floated the Earthen bowl over to her and she took a piece of the orange flesh, her face puckering as she tasted the sweet fruit.

“That was super cool,” Cass said. “Can you do that again?”

“What was cool?" Zoe smirked.

“All that fwoom and swishy stuff you did!” Cass said.

“Ohh, the fwoom and swishy stuff. Yeah, I can do it again.” Zoe laughed and formed a cloud of snow behind her that drifted down onto the forest floor with her Frost skill.

“Snow!” Cass shouted and ran to the cloud of snow behind Zoe. “Daddy it’s snowing!”

Igor looked at Zoe and smiled. “You’ve got quite the assortment of skills.”

Zoe nodded. “I have a few.”

“What else, what else?” Cass looked up at Zoe and asked.

“Cass, darling. Don’t be rude.” Igor said.

“No, it’s fine. Lets see, hmm. I can do this.” Zoe said and teleported behind Cass.

“Wha!” Cass shouted and looked around, finding Zoe behind herself. “How’d you do that?!”

“I can teleport.” Zoe said. “I can go really far, too. But right now I’m supposed to be watching you two.” She smiled.

“Can you teleport me too?” Cass asked.

“No, I… Actually I’ve never tried that before. I don’t know.” Zoe said, a little surprised the thought had never occurred to her.

“Can you try? I wanna do that!” Cass asked.

Zoe looked at Igor and he shook his head. “No, maybe someday when she knows if it works, but not if she doesn’t.” He said.

“Fair enough.” Zoe said.

“Awww, I wanted to teleport.” Cass pouted.

“You’ll have to get your own fun classes, then.” Igor said.

“Fine.” Cass drawled. “I’m gonna be a teleporting painter!"

“I can fly, though.” Zoe suggested.

“You can fly?!” Cass shouted. “I wanna fly! Can I fly, daddy? Please?”

“You sure its safe?” Igor radiated fear and anxiety as he asked.

Zoe nodded. “I can let you try, first if you want.”

“Please,” Igor said.

Zoe summoned a suit of earth around him and lifted him off the ground. She felt his limbs twitching in the suit of earth as he lifted off the ground and watched as his emotions twisted between anxiety and a hint of excitement.

“How long can you do this? Is your mana going to run out?” Igor asked as he floated inches above the ground.

Zoe laughed. “No, my mana is not going to run out. I could carry both of you and myself, and still have mana to spare.”

“Daddy! I wanna fly too!” Cass whined.

“Okay, you can fly. But not too high, please.” Igor said.

Zoe wrapped Cass in a suit of earth and lifted her off the ground. She screeched with excitement as she was picked up and lifted up a few feet off the ground. Zoe kept the two close together as she carried them through the forest and moved them towards whatever Cass pointed at.

“Higher! Higher!” Cass pleaded.

“You can’t go too high, Cass. What if you fall?" Igor said.

“I wanna go over the trees, daddy. Please?" Cass pouted.

Igor sighed. “Fine. Just a bit over the trees, though.”

Zoe teleported into the sky and caught herself in a suit of earth, then brought the other two up above the trees with her.

“We’re so high, daddy!" Cass said as she turned her head around and Zoe rotated her to let her look around.

Igor looked down at the ground dozens of feet below with a worried expression. “Yes we are, honey. Very, very high. Alright, take us down please, Zoe.”

Zoe obliged and the three drifted down to the ground where Zoe dismantled the earthen suits into a fraction of the mana she put into them.

“But daddy, I wanted to fly more.” Cass whined.

“I know honey, but that’s enough flying for today. I can only handle so much.” Igor said and looked to Zoe. “Thank you.”

Zoe nodded, and the three continued walking through the forest. Cass quickly got over needing to walk again as she found more flowers and fallen fruits to get excited over. They continued through the forest for a few hours, stopping for a quick meal later in the afternoon.

Igor had brought some bear meat sandwiches on crusty brul with a variety of leafy greens. The sandwiches were tasty, but Zoe found she just didn’t enjoy bear meat as much as she did boar or deer. The meat tended to be more fatty and even though the meat Igor shared wasn’t quite as old as the bear she had at the last village, it had a strange bitter taste to it.

As she ate, Zoe heard a sharp crack as something heavy snapped a branch far behind her. Neither of the two she was with seemed to notice anything as they continued enjoying their meal, so Zoe ignored it, hoping it would go away. A moment later there was another sharp crack, a little closer but still far enough that Zoe let it be.

“Good?” Igor asked Cass.

“Yeah! Daddy’s sammies are the best.” Cass smiled, bits of green stuck in her teeth.

Zoe tried to smell whatever animal was approaching, but she couldn’t tell over the uptorn dirt from Cass kicking her feet on the ground as she sat, and the general muskiness that filled the forest. Another crack reached her ears, even closer than the previous. Maybe a hundred feet out, if even that, Zoe thought.

“Igor?" Zoe asked.

“Yeah? Is the sandwich to your liking? I have some more if you like?" He asked.

“No, the sandwich is fine. Don’t panic, alright? I promise you’re safe.” Zoe said and stood up.

The occasional cracks from behind her turned into dull thuds as whatever it was raced through the forest at her. Zoe turned to look at whatever it was that was stalking them and saw a bear. A few days earlier, she would even have thought it was a large bear. But in comparison to the beast she’d helped track this one was tiny. Its head as it barrelled through the forest only just taller than Zoe’s. Dark green level forty eight, to Zoe’s Identify she noted as it got close enough for her skill.

Igor stared at the bear as it approached, fear welling up in him with each thudding step the bear took. Cass looked towards the sound as well and back at her father, mild anxiety and an unsure feeling coming off the young girl to Zoe’s Empathy.

“Hey, it’s going to be alright. Zoe will keep us safe, okay? You just enjoy your sandwich, okay?" Igor said, fear exploding from him like a water balloon of anxiety that popped.

Zoe focused on the bear’s form and pushed mana into her Cosmic Rift skill. Space and time twisted and warped before reality seemed to split, leaving the bear in two halves that tumbled along the forest floor.

“You got a storage item?” Zoe asked Igor.

He blinked at her, dumbfounded. Zoe’s Empathy screamed of confusion and doubt. “What?” He asked.

“The bear? My storage items are full of random junk, but it would be a shame to just waste the bear. You got space?" Zoe asked.

“No, I don’t have a storage item, sorry.” Igor said.

“Ah, damn.” Zoe teleported to the bear’s corpse and stored one half of it in her item, almost filling up the entire bag of storage she freed up by leaving books back at The Chipped Stool.

“That was so cool!" Cass said when Zoe teleported back.

“Yes, it was very impressive.” Igor said. "I think we should be heading back now, though.“

“But daddy its still bright out. I wanna keep exploring!" Cass whined.

“I think this was enough excitement for one day, sweetie. We can’t keep Zoe busy forever.” Igor said.

“Please, daddy?” Cass whined.

Igor shook his head. “One more hour. But that’s it. Then we’re going back home. If that’s alright with you?" He asked Zoe.

She nodded her head. “That’s fine. I’m in no rush, really.”

The three wandered through the forest for another hour as Cass ran from tree to tree smelling and touching everything the forest had to offer. And then Zoe flew them above the trees back to the gate they left from and took her copper square as payment. Igor and Cass walked back home and Zoe made her way to The Chipped Stool to rest for the night and focus on levelling her enchanting skills for a while.